Kathy’s Kritters is a web site about guinea pigs and hamsters. Kathy, the site owner, has been a hamster owner since 1992 and a guinea pig owner since 2000.

The site has stories of her pet hamsters and guinea pigs as well as photo galleries full of pet pictures organized by each of the lovely animal friends that have been or are currently in her life. Don’t be fooled by the words ‘photo gallery’ though, because they’re also filled with interesting facts about her pets . There’s even a a guide to making a guinea pig house!

My favorite part of Kathy’s Kritters is the Pet Stories. It includes a Baby Hamster Journal which is a day-by-day account of the birth to Day 16 of thirteen baby hamsters. The babies went from tiny jellybean-like shapes to looking like actual furry Syrian hamsters (although not as big).

There’s also Hermione’s Adventure — it is a story written in the perspective of Hermione the hamster who goes exploring after her tunnel got disconnected from her lower house.

Each pet story comes with its own color and theme. It feels like I’m reading a different ‘book’ when I go to each story!

Besides the two stories mentioned above, there are more that you can read. They all come with cute photos and Kathy’s awesome storytelling. If you like reading pet/animal stories, you should definitely visit Kathy’s Kritters.

After reviewing Hammysworld and Kathy’s Kritters, I really feel like adopting a Syrian hamster! I will be going to the SPCA (they have guinea pigs too *ahem*) tomorrow so I might actually return with one >.> Now, I realize we’re called Dwarf Hamster Blog so maybe I should get another dwarf hamster instead…

While Dwarf Hamster Blog aims to provide as much useful information as possible to our readers, it’s not quite possible for us to know everything about hamsters. However, there are many other helpful sites out there that may have the info you need and we’ll share them here from time to time. Today, we feature Hammysworld.

Hammysworld is a Syrian hamster breeder’s site with information mainly on Syrian hamsters but a lot of is relevant to dwarf hamsters as well. If you enjoy watching videos and looking at photos of hamsters, there are plenty of them on Hammysworld too. They also have hamsters for sale and adoption from time to time.

My favorite part of Hammysworld is their section on baby hamsters. It has photos, videos, and helpful information such as what to feed baby hamsters, how to hand feed orphaned baby hamsters, caring for a runt and much more.

Hammysworld also has information on breeding Syrian hamsters and highlights the importance of being a responsible breeder. To quote:

Before commencing on any project of breeding hamsters “PLEASE THINK CAREFULLY” What is your reason for breeding? Is it because you love the particular species you intend to breed. Or is it just to see the wonders of the birth (which incidentally is very rare) as the birth usually takes place in the dead of night. Or is it to make that bit of extra cash? Theses are not sound and valid reasons for breeding.

and

Responsible breeders always seek to improve the species.

I fully agree with Hammysworld and their message about responsible breeding and I think it applies to dwarf hamsters as well. Too often, people breed hamsters for the wrong reasons or just because they can.

Besides baby hamsters and hamster breeding, Hammysworld also talks about hamster’s health (with a huge list of common hamster ailments), diet, housing, and more. There is so much useful information on the site. And a lot of it is first-hand experience that you normally would not even find in hamster guidebooks!

If you are looking to learn more about Syrian hamsters or to improve your hamster knowledge in general, I highly recommend checking out Hammysworld.

“Hamster bowling” was invented by twelve-year-old Alyssa Reiter from Michigan. (She is getting her patent for this invention on May 7 2013!). She came up with the invention when she was merely nine years old, after being inspired by her pet Syrian hamster knocking over chew sticks in its hamster ball.

How does hamster bowling work?

My first reaction when I heard about hamster bowling was to think it’s some kind of cruel game you play with your hamster. Luckily, the actual game is completely hamster-safe. It appears to involve a hamster ball you can find easily in pet stores or on Amazon and some colorful chew sticks. You put your hamster in the ball and let it knock over the chew sticks (like bowling pins!) at the end of a mini bowling lane.

Where can I buy this?

Alyssa hopes to sell her invention in pet stores, but at the moment it’s not yet available. However, nobody’s stopping you from getting a hamster ball and some chew sticks and making the game yourself.

Our take on hamster bowling

Alyssa’s used a Syrian hamster in her demonstration, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work with a dwarf hamster. In fact, with Roborovski hamsters, hamster bowling might get even more exciting since Robos run really quickly for their size.

While Alyssa seems very enthusiastic about her invention, it doesn’t look very fun from the video. Maybe the video wasn’t too clear but the bowling lane looked kind of short. The idea is pretty creative and interesting though and if she does sell it in pet stores, I would probably get one just to see how it works.